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The Ancestry of Cometan

Cometanic ancestry is traceable back to the early 16th century across a multitude familial lines and continues to contribute a substantial branch of study within Cometanology. Within this branch, we look at those individuals born and living before the grandparents of Cometan while relatives of Cometan are classified as born after his grandparents.

All the known ancestors of Cometan were born and lived in the English county of Lancashire in North West England. The study of Cometan's ancestry is split along paternal and maternal lines. A much greater deal more is known about Cometan's maternal ancestry than his paternal ancestry. Cometan's ancestors held a variety of occupations, most notably wheelwrights, undertakers, firefighters, and WW1 infantry.

Cometan himself began exploring his ancestral lineage from about the age of twenty as part of the initial developments of the Cometanic ancestry branch of study. Cometanica is a publisher that was founded and established by Cometan to handle the publication of all Cometanic ancestral documents, photographs, and other information.

The paternal ancestry of Cometan is the lesser known of his two ancestral lines and the current extent of knowledge regarding Cometan's paternal ancestry stretches back only to his grandparents' parents. Cometan's paternal ancestry can be split into two families; the Hardacre family and the Taylor family. The latter of these two family lines is the one to which Cometan directly belongs as Cometan's birth name is Brandon Reece Taylor.

Maternal ancestry

The maternal ancestry of Cometan is split across seven families; the Farnworths, the Lancasters, the Cottams, the Moons, the Prescotts, the Turners, and the Warbricks. It is the Warbrick family to which Cometan directly belongs maternally due to his mother's birth name being Janet Louise Warbrick. Much greater detail is known of Cometan's maternal ancestry due to a greater extent of records, particularly his grandfather's familial lineage.

Cottam family

The Cottam family was a working class family originating from the county of Lancashire, specifically in and around the City of Preston, before settling in the village of Higher Walton. This is where Richard Cottam met and married Jane Turner; these were one of two of Cometan's maternal great-grandparents. The Cottam family suffered a tragedy in 1942 when Jane Cottam died of tubercluosis when her daughter Hilda (Cometan's grandmother) was just four years old. Richard Cottam also passed away when Hilda was twenty, leaving her grandmother to care for Hilda's wellbeing.

Hardacre family

The Hardacres were an English working class family with a clear lineage tracing back to the mid-16th century. Although the Hardacres would come to settle in the county of Lancashire, their ancestors originate from the village of Kildwick in North Yorkshire. Richard Hardacre, a member of this family, married Edith McKerney in the early 20th century. In Higher Walton village, the Hardacres were in frequent contact with the Cottam family although they did not know then that they would one day share a single common descendant in Cometan.

Lancaster family

The Lancasters were an English family of landlords with a clear lineage tracing back to the early 19th century and to the village of Whittle-le-Woods. When John Lancaster, the head of the family, died his daughter, Elizabeth, took over the running of the Royal Oak pub in Brindle. She went on to marry wheelwright, William Warbrick, from the nearby village of Clayton Green. They then had children together, one of whom was Henry Warbrick, Cometan's great grandfather.

McKerney family

The McKerneys were a working class family of Irish immigrants who travelled from Dublin sometime during the mid-19th century and settled in Preston in Lancashire. Hugh McKerney (1789 - 1863), who originated from county Fermanagh in what is now Northern Ireland, lead the move from Ireland to England. His great granddaughter, Edith McKerney, settled in Higher Walton and later married Richard Hardacre. They had two daughters together, one of whom was Irene Hardacre, Cometan's paternal grandmother.

Moon family

The Moon family were a family of English farmers and landowners whose lineage can be traced back to the very late 17th century with Henry Moone. Based in and around the village of Eccleston, by the early 1800s, the family had amassed 21 acres of land and owned Daisy Hill Farm in Euxton. The oldest picture of Cometan's ancestors features Ralph Moon, Cometan's 4th great-grandfather just one year before his death alongside his wife, Agnes. It was taken in 1858, just twenty years after the invention of photography which demonstrates the wealth they must have accumulated for that time to be able to afford such a photograph.

Prescott family

Our knowledge of the Prescott family is limited in comparison to the other families of Cometanic ancestry. David Prescott was born in 1819 in Chorley, Lancashire and had a son, Joseph Prescott. Joseph was an English cashier and teacher who married Elizabeth Moon and with whom they had a daughter named Mary, one of the maternal great grandmothers of Cometan. Various documents involving Joseph have been kept in tact and these can be viewed in the Cometanic Archives. There are also a couple of pictures of Joseph in the early 1900s before his death in 1930.

Taylor / Stringfellow family

The Taylor family was a working class family who originated from the village of Coppull in Lancashire which was were Derrick Taylor, Cometan's grandfather, came from. Virtually nothing is known about the Taylor family beyond Derrick Taylor himself other than that his parents were killed in a car crash. Derrick, joined by his wife Irene, settled at 222 Longmeanygate in the 1950s and raised ten children there, one of which was Cometan's father, Sean. Derrick Taylor's mother, Ellen, had a maiden name of Stringfellow and her family originate from within Lancashire.

Turner family

The Turner family's lineage can be traced back to the early 19th century with Thomas Turner born in Walton-le-Dale. The family remained stationary in this village all the way up to recent times. Cometan's 2nd great-grandmother, Elizabeth Turner (née Farnworth) would have three children with Joseph Turner, one of whom was named Jane. Although the Turner name would live on through Jane's brother Edward, the family's direct connection to Cometan was broken with Jane Turner's death in 1942 when her daughter Hilda was just four years old.

Warbrick family

The Warbrick family is the ancestral family of Cometan that we perhaps know the most about. They were a large family with extensive connections in villages surrounding Preston. Their lineage traces back to the late 17th century with Richard Warbrick who was born in the coastal town of Blackpool. With James Warbrick in the mid 18th century, they moved north-eastward to the village of Garstang where they alternated in residence with the village of Clayton Green for about 100 years across generations. In the mid 1800s however, the family settled in Clayton Green (now Clayton-le-Woods) where William Warbrick established his wheelwright business and married and had children with a local landlady called Elizabeth Lancaster.

William Warbrick

Cometan's maternal great-grandfather, William Warbrick was a wheelwright for the majority of his life. He married Elizabeth Lancaster sometime in the latter half of the 19th century and fathered seven children.

Family: Prescott

Date of birth: 1895

Date of death: 1930

Occupation: World War Two infantry

Relation to Cometan: 2nd great-uncle

Harry Prescott

Harry Prescott was one of the great great-uncles of Cometan on his maternal grandfather's side. He served as a soldier during World War Two and although he survived the war, he was terribly ill after returning home due to gas poisoning from the war.

Family: In-law in the Turner family

Date of birth: unknown

Date of death: unknown

Occupation: Poet

Relation to Cometan: 2nd great-uncle

Edward Southworth

Edward Southworth was one of the great great-uncles of Cometan on his maternal grandmother's side. One of Edward's passions was writing poetry and many of his works are planned to be published posthumously by Cometan.

Family: Hardacre

Date of birth: 1905

Date of death: 1962

Occupation: World War Two firefighter

Relation to Cometan: great grandfather

Richard Hardacre

Richard Hardacre was the great grandfather of Cometan on his paternal grandmother's side. What was known of Richard has largely been lost to history, but we do know he was a firefighter during World War Two. Married Edith McKerney in April 1930.

Family: Warbrick

Date of birth: unknown

Date of death: unknown

Occupation: Cotton weaver & policeman

Relation to Cometan: 2nd great uncle

Thomas Warbrick

Thomas Warbrick was one of the 2nd great uncles of Cometan in the Warbrick family in which he was a brother to Henry Warbrick, Cometan's great grandfather. Thomas was a Ministry of Defense policeman.

Family: In-law of the Warbrick family

Date of birth: unknown

Date of death: 1995

Occupation: Draughtsman

Relation to Cometan: Great uncle

Steven Conway

Steven Conway was one of the maternal great uncles of Cometan who actually died before Cometan's birth. A very creative individual, Steven drew a multitude of pictures throughout his life, built a model of the Golden Hinde, an excellent photographer and designing and making stained glass.

Family: Warbrick

Date of birth: 1895, Royal Oak Inn, Brindle

Date of death: 1929, Mount Street Hosp. Preston

Occupation: unknown

Relation to Cometan: 2nd great-aunt

Anastasia Arrowsmith

Married Jack Arrowsmith, a descendent of Saint Edmund Arrowsmith, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Died of asyphyxiation in Mount Street Hospital in Preston at the age of just 32.

Family: Warbrick

Date of birth: 14th May 1896

Date of death: 24th August 1972

Occupation: Soldier

Relation to Cometan: great grandfather

Henry Warbrick

Henry Warbrick was the maternal great grandfather of Cometan and is remembered for his service as a solider in World War One. He retracted gout from the trenches, but lived until 1972.

Family: Warbrick (née Prescott)

Date of birth: 24th August 1898

Date of death: 7th June 1967

Occupation: Weaver

Relation to Cometan: great grandmother

Mary Warbrick

Mary Warbrick was the great grandmother of Cometan on his maternal grandfather's side. There are some images of Mary collected and published by Cometanica depicting her alongside her family.

Family: Warbrick

Date of birth: Unknown

Date of death: 1943, Salerno Beach, Italy

Occupation: World War Two sapper

Relation to Cometan: 1st cousin twice removed

Thomas Warbrick

Thomas Warbrick (depicted here as a young boy at a wedding) was a sapper during World War Two who died towards the end of the war in 1943 on Salerno Beach in Italy whilst sapping buried mines.

Family: Warbrick

Date of birth: 1884

Date of death: 17th November 1953

Occupation: Wheelwright and undertaker

Relation to Cometan: 2nd great uncle

John James Warbrick

John James Warbrick was part of the Warbrick family as the son of William Warbrick, Cometan's great great-grandfather. John James had taken over his father's wheelwright business, but switched to being an undertaker in the early 1900s.

Family: Cottam

Date of birth: 7th May 1936

Date of death: 6th June 2010

Occupation: Plumbing and heating engineer

Relation to Cometan: Great uncle

Kevin Cottam

The brother of Hilda Warbrick, Cometan's grandmother, Kevin and his young sister were often mistaken for twins when growing up as they were so close in size. Kevin had an entrepreneurial spirit and set up his own business in the village of Longridge.